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(N0 MOdGL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. H. W. CHURCH. .DUST TRUNK FOR. COTTON CLEANING. N0. 453,992.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. W. CHURCH. DUST TRUNK FON GOTTON CLEANING.

No. 453,992. Patented June 9,1891.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY IV. CHURCH, OF LOVELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNCR TO THE KITSCN MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DUST-TRUNK FOR COTTON-CLEANING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 453,992, dated J une 9,1891.

Application filed March 7, 1891.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, HENRY YV. CHURCH, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Dust- Trunks for Cotton-Cleaning, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to dust-trunks for cotio ton-cleaning. Dust-trunks for cotton-cleaning are commonly constructed with a fiber-passage connecting an opener to another opener. or to a lapper, and through this passage the cotton fibers are sucked from one machine to the machine next in operation, the heavier impurities mixed with the fibers being thereby shaken therefrom and falling through a grating, which forms the bottom of a portion of the berpassage, into dust-pockets arranged immediatelybelowsaid grating. These dust-pockets, as occasion requires, are commonly emptied by removing the bottoms of the pockets, each pocket usually having a separate removable bottom on which the contents of the pocket rest. These bottoms after being removed and cleaned are replaced. There are usually a large number of such pockets in a single trunk and considerable time is required to empty them all. Themachines connected by thev trunk are usually stopped while the pockets are being emptied to prevent the air from being drawn upward through the pockets, thus interfering with the passage of the fibers and carrying with it the contents of the dust-pockets through the grating and again mixing them with the bers. IVhile the pockets are being emptied in this manner considerable dust escapes into the room containing the dust-trunk, some of which dust gets back into the cotton on the opener and lapper if these are in the same room with said trunk.

To prevent the loss of time and decreased production and the escape of dust above described are the objects of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, on two sheets, Figure l is a side elevation of an opener, a lapper, their driving-belts and pulleys, a dust-trunk connecting said opener and lapper and provided with my improvement, a dust-bin, an exhaust-trunk, a fan-case, parts Serial No. 384,123. (No model.)

of my improvement, the grating and dustpockets being shown by dotted lines; Fig. 2, a plan of the dust-trunk and my improvement and said lapper, parts of my improvement being shown by dotted lines; Fig. 3, a vertical transverse section on the line 3 3 in Fig. et; Fig. 4, a side elevation of a part of the dust-trunk provided with my improvement and a longitudinal vertical section of other 6o parts of said trunk.

A is an opener, B a lapper, C an exhaust-fan, C an exhaust-trunk, and D a dust-bin, these parts being of the usual construction and operation.

The dust-trunk E is provided with a fiberpassage e, through which the bers of cotton pass from the opener to the lapper in the usual manner, a grating e forming the bottom of the greater portion of the horizontal 7o part of said fiber-passage. The dust-trunk E is alsoprovi ded with dust-pockets e2, formed by a series ot transverse divisions or divisionboards c3 in the usual manner, except that instead of the pockets e2 being provided with 7 5 separate bottoms I useasingle bottom e* common to all of said pockets. The bottom e4 is stiffened at its side edges ,by ribs e5, secured yto the under side of the same, and is fitted between the sides of the dust-trunk, which 8o for a distance greater than the length of said bottom reach below the lowest position of said bottom. During part of the time the pockets are closed and the bottom e4 is held against thelower edges of the division-boards by the vertical position of arms f, carrying anti-friction-rolls f', which press against the under side of said bottom, a pair of said arms f being rigidly secured to each of two or more rock-shafts F, turning in hangers f2, 9o secured to the sides of the dust-trunk E. The rocking of said rock-shafts allows the bottom e4 to fall away from the division-boards e3, and is accomplished by the swinging ofa forked lever F', pivoted at its upper end at 9 5' f3 to a bracket G, secured to the dust-trunk, the lower end of said lever being provided with a fork f4, which engages a horizontal stud f5, projecting from a horizontal rod f, pivoted to the upper ends of armsf', one roo such arm being rigidly secured to each rockshaft F. The leverF is swung by a grooved cam F2, the groovefof which receives a horizontal stud f, proj ecting from said level'.

The cam F2 hasa uniform rotatiointin either direction, as shown by the adjacent arrow,) being rigidly secured to the shaft II, which has the driving-pulley II', said shaft and pnl.- leybeing driven from the sliaf t u, which drives the opener A, orfroin the shaft l), which drives the lapper B, or from an)1 other convenient shaft. Another rock shaft I passes transversely through the dust-trunk above the bottom of the dust-pockets and below the grating, and has rigidly secured to it, on the same side of the dust-trunk with the lever F a lever I', the upper end of which is provided` with a horizontal stud t', which enters the camgroove 1l of the cam I2, secured to the shaft H, and by the rotation of said cam is given a reciprocating motion, thereby rocking said shaft I. The lower arm of the lever I and a parallel arm 2 of the same length on the opposite side of the dust-trunk, and also secured to the shaft I, reach below the dusttrunk, and are provided at their lower ends with horizontal inwardly-extending studs 'i3 i4, to which and to brackets 13" i6, secured to the bottom e4, are pivoted opposite ends of links i7 is, so that the rocking of the shaft I gives to the bottom areciprocating longitudinal motion.

An inspection of Fig. 4 shows that the upper port-ion of the camgi'oove fB through an angular distance of about one hundred and titty degrees is concentric with its center of mot-ion, the lower portion of said cani-groove gradually approaching the center of the cam, so that the bottoni is held against the lower edges of t-lie division-boards a little less than half the time, and during the remainder of the time is being lowered away from or raised into contact with said division-boaids. In said Fig. It the bottom is represented as having just been raised into such contact and the stud 't' is in the part of the cam-groove yzT farthest from the center of the cam I2, so that the bottoni is now nearer the lapper than at any other time. From the point occupied by the stud t' in Fig. 4 the lowerpart of the eamgroove yi for an angular distance of about one hundred and eighty degrees approaches the center, and then recedes from the center back to the starting-point. half a revolution of the two cams in either direction (shown by the adjacent arrow) will cause the bottom to move to the left in Fig. 4 a little more than the distance from one division-board to the next, keeping the bottom meantime in contact with the lower edges of the division-boards, and thereby in effect scraping the dust and fibers along on said bottom, and will then lower said bottom away from the pockets and then move the same to the right, carrying the contents of each pocket under the pocket next in advance, or to the right, and then raise the bottom against the division-boards, so that the contents of any pocket will by successive steps be scraped Hence about af along on the bottom board and off from the end thereof into the dust-passage rl, leading from the dust-trunk to the diist-bin I), above mentioned, or to any convenient place for depositing the dust. As the rotation of the Cairs above described is continuous, only a small amount of dust accumulates in the pockets, and the bottoms of the pockets are closed when the dust is scraped from the end of the division-board.

I claim as my invention- I l. The combination of the dust-trunk provided with a grating, with a fiber-passage arranged above said grating, with dust-pochette arranged below said grating, and with division-boards separating said pockets from each other, and with a bottom common to all of said pockets arranged between the sides of said dust-trunk, means, substantially ats described, of giving to said bottom a longitudinal reciprocating motion, and means, substantially as described, of lowering said bottom away from said division-boards immediately before the forward motion of the same and ot' afterward raising the saine andholding the same against said division-boards dur ing the backward motion of the saine to carry dust and refuse caught by said pockets from pocket to pocket along on, said bottom and off from the end thereof, as and for the pur pose specified.

2. The combination of the dust-trunk provided with a grating, with a fiber-passage arranged above said grating, with dust-pochets arranged below said grating, with divisionboards separating said. pockets from each other, and with a bottom adapted to have a longitudinal reciprocating motion between the sides of said dust-trunk and common to all of said pockets, two or more rock-shafts supported below said dust-trunk and provided with arms, a rod connecting said arms and provided with a lateral stud, a lever pivoted at its upper end and provided at its lower end with a fork to engage said stud, and provided also witha stud,aeani provided with a groove which receives said lastfnained stud, said rock-shafts being provided with other arms arranged below the bottom of said dust-triink and of a suitable length to hold said bottom against said division-boards when said last-named arms are in a vertical position, but allowing said bottoni to fall away from said division-boards when said shafts are rocked, and means, substantially as described, of giving to said bottom a loiigitudinal reciprocating motion, as and for the pur pose specified.

3. 'lhe combination of the dust-trunk provided With a grating, with a liber-passage arranged above said grating, with dust-pockets arranged below said grating, with divisionboards separating said pockets from each other, and with a bottom adapted to have a` longitudinal. reciprocating :motion and common to all of said pockets, two or more rock shafts supported below said dust-trunk and IOO IIO

provided with arms, a rod connecting said arms and provided with a lateral stud, a lever pivoted at its upper end and provided at its lower end with a fork to engage said stud, and provided also with a stud,acan1 provided with a groove to receive said last-named stud, said rock-shafts being provided with other arins arranged below the bottom of said dust-trunk and of a suitable length to lhold said bottom against said division-boards when said arms are in a vertical position, but allowing said bottom to fall away from said boards when said shafts are rocked, another rock-shaft extending through said trunktransversely above said bottom, a lever rigidlyT secured to said last-named shaft and extending below said dust-trunk and having at its upper end a lateral stud, another cam having a cam-groove to receive said last-named stud, an arm secured to said last-named rock-shaft at its opposite end and parallel with and of equal length with the lower arm of said last-named lever, brackets secured t'o the under side of said bottoni, and connecting-rods pivot-ed to said brackets and to the lower ends of said last-named arm and lever, and means, substantially as described, for imparting to said cains a continuous motion, as and for the purpose specied. 4 In witness whereof l have signed this speciication, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, this 2d day of December, A. D. 1890.

HENRY XV. CHURCH. Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, MYRTIE C. BEALS. 

